Sophomore Bransyn Copas led North Adams with 24 points in their win over South Point at the 2022 Coach Young Classic. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
North Adams’ Jayce Rothwell elevates for a shot in the lane in action from the Green Devils’ win over South Point in the Coach Young Classic. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
As it traditionally does, the final game of the annual Coach Young Classic showcases the latest version of the North Adams Green Devils. On Saturday in the Classic night cap, the Devils faced off with the South Point Pointers. Coach Nathan Copas, who once manned the point guard position for Coach Young’s Final Four squad in 1996, and his Devils were looking to snap a two-game losing streak in front of a nice crowd on their home hardwood and end the 2022 Classic with a “W”.
That’s exactly what the Devils did as a fine all-around effort, paced by 24 points from sophomore Bransyn Copas, handled the Pointers by a final count of 59-43 to send their faithful home with another Classic victory.
“We struggled our last couple of game and tonight was better,” said Coach Copas in his postgame radio interview. “We just need to get back to practice, work hard, and stay focused. I thought I was seeing some bad body language so I told the boys to just go out there and have some fun. We got some nice energy from the crowd and I thought we played pretty well tonight.”
“We knew (Mason) Kazee could score and he got away from us a few times, but he’s a nice player. You cam survive one guy having a big night if you keep the other guys in check.”
As Saturday’s late game go underway, it looked as if the Devils were going to run away with things as three-point goals by Copas and Carson Osborne propelled the host squad to a 12-0 advantage. South Point didn’t get on the board until the 2:24 mark of the opening period, but they slowly began to chip away at the North Adams lead, cutting the deficit to 14-7 on a three-point bucket by sharpshooter Mason Kazee. Copas got one to fall at the buzzer, leaving the Devils on top 16-7 after one.
Though the Devils would lead from wire to wire, they could never get the pesky Pointers to go away as a basket midway through the second quarter by Carter Smith pulled South Point within 22-16. The Devils quickly responded with a pair of Jayce Rothwell free throws and a Copas three-ball to again push the lead to double digits.
However, the final two buckets of the first half belonged to the Pointers and at the intermission, the North Adams lead stood at 27-20.
During the halftime, both teams rolled out the artillery and proceeded to combine for six three-pointers in the third period of action. The long distance barrage began with North Adams’ Cameron Campbell, followed by South Point’s Kazee hitting back to back shots from behind the arc to slice the Devils’ lead down to 30-26.
Things got even tighter moments later when an other Kazee trey brought the Pointers within 32-29, but Copas answered from beyond the arc, then went scored back-to-back two-pointers to again stretch the home team’s lead to double digits, but a three-ball by South Point’s Jake Adams at the third quarter buzzer made it 43-34 North Adams.
The final period began with a basket inside from Devils’ senior Avery Anderson, but five straight by the Pointers kept them within shouting distance at 45-39. From that point on, it was all Devils as the home team finished the game on a 14-4 run over the final six minutes. Copas had four points in the run, with Anderson, Jayce Rothwell, and Caleb Rothwell all adding two. The final points of the 2022 Coach Young Classic acme with 1:18 to go on a pair of Campbell free throws, sealing the deal on the seventh win of the season for Coach Copas and his troops.
Bransyn Copas led the Devils and all scorers, continuing his offensive resurgence with a 24-point night, joined in double figures by Avery Anderson, who added 10. Caleb Rothwell and Jayce Rothwell tossed in 7 and 6 respectively, with Cameron Campbell chipping in 5. The Devils shot 53% from the field in the win and were a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line.
“A lot of guys got some big baskets for us tonight,” said Coach Copas. “Putting up 59 was a big thing for us tonight.”
“Coach Young is known all over and this is a great day to honor him, his brother, and his parents. They all were such great supporters of this program and Coach Young was a special guy. A lot of these kids don’t know who he is but a lot of us still do and we’re going to keep that memory alive.”
On the strength of his three-point shooting, senior Mason Kazee topped South Point with 23.
The Devils were slated to be back in action on Tuesday, January 18, weather permitting, back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play, hosting the Whiteoak Wildcats, followed up on Friday, January 21 with another conference home game with the Fairfield Lions.
BOX SCORE
South Point
7 13 14 9 —43
North Adams
16 11 16 14 —59
South Point (43): Schneider 2, Adams 8, Kazee 23, Smith 2, Ermalovich 2, Dornon 6
N. Adams (59): J. Rothwell 6, Copas 24, C. Rothwell 7, Osborne 5, Anderson 10, Campbell 5, Buttelwerth 2
Three-Pointers:
South Point (7)- Kazee 5, Adams 2
N. Adams (5)- Copas 2, Osborne 1, Campbell 1, C. Rothwell 1
